M. A. Muqtedar Khan

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M. A. Muqtedar Khan (b. 1966) is presently an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He is also the Director of Islamic Studies Program. Prior to that he was Chair of the Department of Political Science and the Director of International Studies at Adrian College. He was a Non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution from 2003-2008. He earned his Ph.D. in international relations, political philosophy, and Islamic political thought, from Georgetown University in May 2000.

He is a well known Muslim intellectual, whose articles and columns are widely published. He is a proponent of social change regarding treatment of women in some Islamic societies, but identifies himself as both traditional as well as liberal. In a sense he is a traditional scholar when it comes to issues of faith, but a liberal on topics such as democracy in the Islamic world, the place of women in society and on pluralism.[citation needed]

He advocates freedom of thought and independent thinking, and he states that it is the inability of Muslims to sustain a dialogue with time and text that sometimes makes Islamic teachings look anachronistic or even intolerant.[citation needed]

Khan is also associated with the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy and the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. He has been the President, Vice President and General Secretary of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists.

Khan frequently comments on BBC, CNN, FOX, VOA TV, NPR and other radio and TV networks. His political commentaries appear regularly in newspapers in over 20 countries. He has also lectured in North America, East Asia, Middle East and Europe .

Khan is from Hyderabad, India. He is married to Reshma and has a son Rumi, and a daughter Ruhi.


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[edit] Praise and Controversy

Khan is admired by some for his critical thinking and for advancing a more moderate and liberal vision of Islam.[citation needed] He claims to be critical of radicalism and narrow conservatism within Islamic thought and also critical of Western foreign policies, racism and Islamophobia in the U.S. and the West.[citation needed] He is considered a rising star among Muslim intellectuals by some[1]. Khan has also evoked considerable controversy as a result of some of his statements. Recently some Shi'a Muslims took strong exception to his comments regarding Ayatollah Sistani, where he compared him to Saddam Hussein, and suggested that Sistani was a dictator.

“ The US-led invasion of Iraq may have replaced an overt and brutal dictatorship by Saddam Hussein with a covert and subtle dictatorship buy the Marja-e-Taqleed, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani—the highest-ranking Shiite authority on the planet.[2] ”

He is however widely respected in the Shia community and has frequently given keynote addresses at various Shia annual conventions in New York and Washington DC. Khan raised the ire of some[3] when he said in an email that he was unsure if he would be comfortable sitting on a panel about anti-Americanism in the Middle East with the last minute addition to the lineup, Asaf Romirowsky, an Israeli Defense Force veteran and a member of neoconservative website Campus Watch. He later claimed that this was written in jest. While the event was taking place at the University of Delaware, it was being run by College Republicans and College Democrats. The College Republicans encouraged Romirowsky to be the main speaker at a later venue. Romirowsky declined this opportunity.

[edit] Quotes

"I remember telling my wife; maybe I will be our Henry Kissinger, the first Muslim to become the Secretary of State. Then came Bin Laden and his bloody men and along with the World Trade Center, American Muslim dreams and aspirations came crashing down."[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/10/06/d410061501110.htm
  2. ^ Khan, Muqtedar (2005-02-13). Have Iraqis voted for a dictatorship?. Retrieved on 2006-07-01.
  3. ^ Jewlicious » Blog Archive » Who’s afraid of Asaf Romirowsky?
  4. ^ Muqtedar Khan. "American Muslims: In Search of the Third Way".

[edit] Bibliography

  • American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom (ISBN 1-59008-012-2, Amana, 2002)
  • Jihad for Jerusalem: Identity and Strategy in International Relations (ISBN 0-275-98014-6, Praeger, 2004).
  • Beyond Jihad and Crusade: Rethinking US policy in the Muslim World (ISBN 0-8157-4924-4, Brookings Institution, 2006)
  • Islamic Democratic Discourse: Theory, Debates, and Philosophical Perspectives (ISBN 0-7391-0645-7, Lexington Books, 2006).

[edit] External links